elcome, we are coming to you live with this new edition of our program "Without Frontiers". This episode was supposed to be broadcast two weeks ago, however due to security issues, one of our guests was unable to make it to the program. Therefore it was replaced with our previous episode with Dr. Abdallah Nafisi which was scheduled for today, We did not promote this episode with our guest until last Saturday when he arrived to Doha in order to avoid the previous scenario, so regretfully he was held hostage here for five days to be able to make this episode on the air as scheduled.

Our topic today is Saudi public reactions to the American campaign which is escalating against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and that has recently taken on enormous dimensions. We will also discuss Prince Abdullah's initiative and public reaction to it, as well as the Bin Laden and Khattab phenomena and the detainees in Guantanamo since "terrorism" in the US standards is becoming linked to Saudi nationals more than others.

Many questions on these topics will be discussed with Dr. Muhsin Al Awaji, Founder of the "Centralism Forum" in Saudi Arabia. He was born in Qaseeh, Saudi Arabia in 1961 and received his B.Sc. degree in Agriculture from King Saud University in 1981. He was appointed as lecturer at the same university where he received his Masters degree in 1986. He also holds a PhD in Soil from Wales University, which he completed in 1989. Dr. Al Awaji was subsequently appointed an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at King Saud University and supervised many theses for higher degrees in addition to his academic work.

In addition, he worked as a prayers sermon Imam and leader in Sa'ad Bin Muath Mosque, then at the Grand Mosque in Riyadh. After the second Gulf War, Dr. Al Awaji appeared as a prominent advocate for reform, calling for a comprehensive reform in the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). As the result, he participated in the preparation of the Reformation Letter that contained twelve demands directed to King Fahd and also participated in issuing an advisory memorandum to King Fahd in addition to his work with five friends for the foundation of a committee for defending and promoting judiciary rights.

When the Saudi authorities lost patience with Dr. Al Awaji, he was imprisoned along with his comrades in 1993. He was released a year later by a Royal Amnesty but he didn't stop his activities. After his release, he participated with three of his colleagues to form the Judiciary Advocacy Committee while in exile in London. Dr. Al Awaji was arrested again in 1994 and       

sentenced to 15 years in jail however after 4 years of imprisonment he was released once again by a Royal Amnesty. After that he was expelled by the Saudi authorities from his University job without any right to retirement compensation. In addition, Dr. Al Awaji was not allowed to leave the country and his passport was confiscated by authorities. He remained inside Saudi Arabia from 1990 until six month ago when he came to Doha in his first trip outside the Kingdom. In this episode we will discuss with him this important issue regarding the Saudi public reactions….

Ahmad Mansoor: Welcome your Excellency

Dr. Muhsin Al Awaji: Thank you!

Ahmad Mansoor: We have taken you a hostage for five days and we are sorry for that but this was necessary. We hope the authorities will be satisfied with you. Unfortunately most authorities do not tolerate us. But we hope they will tolerate you.

Dr. Muhsin Al Awaji: We seek Allah's satisfaction. He is worthy of that concern but postponing the episode was due to reasons which were indicated earlier.

Ahmad Mansoor: We have been preparing for this episode for many weeks. We asked you to probe the Saudi public opinion from different viewpoints so that you will not be expressing your own opinion here or the perspective of the Centralism Forum but rather the wider spectrum of the Saudi public. Thankfully you did tour in a number of Saudi cities. We were in continuous contact with you until you informed us of being well prepared. Today you will be presumably expressing the opinion of a wide range of the Saudi public. Therefore we hope you will convey these reactions accurately and honestly as we know you hope that you will not be influenced by security factors.

The Kingdom is under an organized campaign which has gained momentum very recently. Almost every American journal and magazine daily contains an article against the Kingdom. From a Saudi public perspective can you solve the puzzle for us?

Dr. Muhsin Al Awaji: In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Allah says in the Holy Qur'an